The Leg Curl from Rogers Athletic has quickly become our favorite prone hamstring training piece of equipment. Rogers Athletic took into consideration the mechanical advantage, and at times disadvantage, of this muscle group through the entire range of motion. With adjustability to fit a wide range of athlete’s heights, the Leg Curl has become a staple on leg day.

It is easy to see that Rogers Athletic put a lot of thought into the Leg Curl. From the small footprint it has in our facility, the comfortable padding for your body and lower legs, to the Set Extension Technology, this piece has been a great addition to our programming.

Coach Taylor’s go to exercise…

“Having the ability to focus in on the hamstring and strengthen the posterior chain is an asset for us. Rogers Athletic created an awesome Leg Curl that has quickly become a staple in our programming. Emphasize the eccentric phase of the contraction by using both legs to lift the resistance and then lower the weight with only one. Stay on the same leg for 5-8 solid reps and repeat on the other side. Both legs should raise the weight 10-16 times, but individually each leg should be put to the max eccentrically.”– Rob Taylor, Jr., Founder and Owner of SMARTER Team Training

Mike changes his training up with…

“Many athletes struggle to control the weight through the entire range of motion of a rep. This is complete reps, combined with partial reps can really help, especially when emphasizing the end ranges of motion. One of our lower body combinations that we will use is our 1½ rep supersets where we take our athlete from an effort set on the prone leg curl to an effort set on the Hip Press.

For the prone Leg Curl 1½ reps, the athlete will begin by curling the weight all the way up, lowering the weight half way down, curling the weight all the way up, then lowering the weight with control all the way down. Our goal is for an athlete to complete a set of 12 1½ reps. If they complete 12 1½ reps, we will increase the weight for the next workout.

On the Hip Press the athlete will lower the weight all the way down, press the weight half way up, lower the weight all the way down, then press the weight all the way up. The goal is for the athlete to complete 15 1½ reps. If the athlete can complete 15 reps then we will increase the weight for the next workout.” – Mike Whitman, Director of Training

Alex keeps it creative with…

“The Rogers Athletic Leg Curl is the smoothest machine of its kind – it puts the body in a very comfortable and safe position but also has the ability to train the hamstrings to absolute failure. Since the hamstrings are generally considered to be mostly fast twitch muscle fiber, I like to stimulate the neurological system differently on this machine with an extended time under tensions set, generally of about 30 seconds. This may only be 2 or 3 actual repetitions – each being 10-15 seconds long, but the muscle is under constant tension and the brain is forced to continually fire for an extended period of time to activate a muscle for which it usually doesn’t have to do that.” – Alex Walsh, Performance Coach

Riley enjoys this protocol the most…

“To see if there is a discrepancy in strength in the hamstring a good protocol would be to do single leg ‘1 and ½’s’. Start with either leg and perform a full rep pausing at the top. Slowly lower halfway, pause, then pull back to the top, pause, then slowly lower to beginning position. This is considered one rep. Use a weight that you can perform 6-8 good reps.” – Riley Oharah, Former Performance Coach